Lived experience: Difference between revisions

{{a|devil|{{image|Lucky Bastard|jpg|The lived experience when you are not “a proper little jailer’s pet”, yesterday.}}}}{{Quote|

:— ''Hamlet'', III, ii}}{{dpn|/lɪvd ɪksˈpɪərɪəns/|n}}Knowledge about the world one gains, first-hand, by living through it.  

Knowledge that is joyously ''subjective'', and not the quasi-objective, pseudo-knowledge by which we are all systematically indoctrinated through insidious social institutions like our education, socialisation, government, the corporate chumocracy and, to the extent it is any different, the calculating fingers of the media.

 

Each person’s “lived experience” is necessarily unique and, taken ''ad absurdum'', unavailable — literally “[[ineffable]]” — to another. Which is true, of all of us, but makes you wonder what its value really is, except by way of unconditional surrender to the human condition.

This calls to mind a stanza in one of the JC’s favourite [[Ogden Nash]] poem:

Of course, knowing what one’s “lived experience” is can get confusing when you consider it ''includes'' being indoctrinated into those lesser forms of pseudo-knowledge, through social institutions like school, university, work, the internet and, well, people on it who witter on about “lived experiences” all the time.  Yes: like the JC.

In any rate, your lived experience is personal, subjective and your own business, to be ''minded'' as such: though you may be politely indulged, no-one much cares to hear about it.<ref>The proprietors of ''The Times'' appear to believe, wrongly, that this rule does not to apply to Robert Crampton, for some reason.</ref> So, life advice, kids, from the Dale Carnegie school of winning friends and influencing people: frame your interactions with the world in terms of ''others''’ lived experiences, not your own, lest you come across as a ''bore''.  

''Suppress'' the instinct to yawp about your own problems. For, if you have the time, energy and platform — that is, the ''luxury'' — to do that, they will hardly seem existential in nature to anyone minded to listen. The converse is just as true for those [[Inclined to|inclined]] to [[Humblebraggadocio|humblebrag]] about [[industry awards]] and [[Guide to the legal profession|Chambers]]’ rankings: if things are so good, why waste your time ''crowing'' about it, rather than just getting on with the ''winning''?

Disingenuously complaining about your lot — let’s call it “[[humblegriping]]” — is a dark inversion of [[Humblebraggadocio|humblebragging]]. No more edifying, and so much more of a downer. Tiresome though he is, you rarely hear the humblebragger droning on about his lived experience.

*[[Path-dependent|Path-dependency]]

*[[Standpoint|Standpoint philosophy]]